Where would you prefer to live in The Caribbean

Based on your preference, Tortola, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos come to mind.

In St Lucia they are building a little resort at one of the worlds most beautiful places at Sugar Beach...... between the two pitons.

Sugar Beach Villas, St Lucia

A real special place!!!!

My favorite is Barbados. They have good technology, a thriving tourist driven economy, a well educated population, good natural resources (like water), good medical care, and the island is beautiful.

St. Thomas and St. Croix are crime infested and getting worse.
When I lived there back in the 80s, the rule was to have 2 of everything so the locals could steal one and you could keep one.
(No idea why the US let those islands go to hell, too much dole perhaps)
Probably much better on other islands except Jamaica and Haiti..

Barbados is clean and in fact the 17th richest country in the world.

Have not spent much time on the French Islands, but I imagine they are well run with infrastructure and law enforcement.

The ABC islands likewise: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaco, although Aruba is a bit flat, windy and dry for my taste.

Usually enjoy my time in the Dominican Republic, food and service okay.
Puerto Rico can be rough in the wrong areas to the point of not wearing jewelry or watches and not going out after dark. Perhaps better in the country side, but I have spent most of my time in San Juan and have seen friends and coworkers robbed, then having their teeth kicked in for good measure.

I lived the longest in St. Croix and liked the sailing, diving, etc but the oil refinery is being shut down and crime has gone up with unemployment and they have built a new jail to house the offenders.
Quite a few non-natives are fleeing St. Croix for the above reason.

Don't live on Curacao!!!! it's a crime infested hell hole!!!

There are more house burglaries each year then there are houses!!! I am serious!!!

It has become a sort of Benidorm of the caribbean a lot of cheap flights from the Netherlands with people only wanna have a cheap vacation......it's such a shame!!!

The former Dutch Antilles have always been a big problem for the Dutch government.

Politicians on the ABC Islands ar so incredibly corrupt that their debt to the Dutch goverment is in the billions!!!! It's one of the biggest hubs for drugtrafficking to Europe.

You could also try Martinique it's a French government and is treated as French provence with great basic necesseties.

You can also see the difference between the French part of St Martin and the Dutch part.

French handle things much better then the Dutch......And that's coming from a someone who lives in The Netherlands.

The Netherlands are organised really well, but somehow they have messed up their caribbean islands so bad!!!

Crime, drugs and corruption have now given most of the Caribbean a sense of greed and materialism that was little seen a few years ago. The bigger islands have mostly now been spoilt by tourism, so these days it's the smaller islands that have a nicer way of life.

Having said that they have, by their very nature of being small, less amenities and a bit backward on other things we take for granted in the developed world. Things like piped water (I still have the photo from 10 years ago when we got running water to the house for the first time), electricity (still waiting) and we have given up hope of a phone line (no point these days). This is on Antigua, which is quite developed. We are mostly self-sufficient for these luxuries, so no power-outages or water droughts (much).

I like Dominica, Bequia, Mustique and down in the Grenadines. But if I had to spend a long period I'd chose maybe Guadeloupe or Martinique for their European access to technologies and laws. The locals, on the other hand, can be a bit crankie and off-hand. You win some, you lose some.

Nowhere is a paradise, you just make the best of what you've got.

Amen to that.
The post by ombreetsoleil with the Sugar Beach Villas was breathtaking (looks like Lord Howe with development), but whenever you have the so called 1st world meet the 3rd world, it does not take long for paradise to be lost. In fact, even in a 1st world scenario, greed will kill the Nature of a place all to quickly.

Nevis

I’m going to a vote in for the English speaking island of Nevis (Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis). Its small enough (36 sq. miles) to still find neighbourly-ness with locals, ex-pats and some visitors. Yes, there is crime, particularly on St. Kitts but like anywhere in the Caribbean, its usually “druggy-punks” beating/shooting each other. With the impressive sound, the “Royal Constabulary of SKN” generally do a pretty good job keeping the peace, notwithstanding that hanging is still in vogue for heinous crimes! As for utilities, there is good water service (using artesian wells), pretty good electrical service (diesel generators) with cellular/wi-fi/cable wide spread…just use a surge protector for you computer. There are three, unusually large grocery stores and numerous other venues to purchase “state-side” food stuffs. “The boat”, currently arrives on a Tuesday. However, there is a growing (no pun intended) resurgence of vegetable and fruit farming and associated road-side vendors who also handle local fresh eggs. A government run abattoir processes local meats (beef, mutton, pork, chicken)…tough but safe, tasty and chemical free. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a residence as there are really good, long-term, rental deals available. Mea Culpa: We’ve been vacationing on Nevis for a month or more over the past 8 years, never a problem, always friendly/safe, and, within reason, not expensive as long as you don’t play “tourist”. And…the Nevis Yacht Club (a patch of beach, a fenced compound and dinghy storage) is a great place to make friends and get involved locally. So, we’re gradually getting ready to spend 6 months a year and are pleased with the destination, folks, beaches and all things tropical to be found on Nevis. Cheers, Richard.

St. Maarten, nice beaches, relatively safe, good food, casino's and things to do, shopping, pretty, and well safe......A lot of my other choices, I couldn't live on for 6 months but like to visit like the DR, but there isn't enough to sustain me. I used to really like PR, but it's gotten pretty unsafe lately. I wouldn't live on St. Croix if you paid my bills, likewise for St. Thomas........Some of the BVI's would be a consideration.......

After living there for about a year the crime in PR seems to center around drugs and domestic violence. And like most places these days if you stay out of the wrong areas you should see like trouble.

And yes while St. Thomas can have a lot of crime I have friends who have lived there for years with no big issues. But it would not be my first choice.

Of the two I would pick PR over the USVIs. More to see and do, nice people, better services, good cruising around the Spanish Virgins and it's only a short hop to the the VIs.

Really the death blow for St. Croix was Hurricane Hugo. Social order broke down completely and it never fully recovered. I think you're right in that the welfare mentality is a huge part of the problem. You can see the BVI from St. Croix and the people are entirely different. I've thought I might want to live on Tortola some day but I will never go back to St. Croix, and I lived there for 10 years. It's a beautiful island spoiled by some really nasty natives.

Actually, that's only part of the problem. I have a customer that has and had a beachfront house there that lived there full time until this year for a decade. The government got greedy with Hovensa (the oil refinery) which was giving them diesel for a reasonable price. The government then made a deal for diesel (to run their electrical generators for the entire island) with someone out of Puerto Rico and the electricity is a fortune, and my customers bill has tripled in the last 3 years. His electric runs $2-3,000 a month.....the government is too greedy to let anyone investment happen and shot themselves in the foot.....

Amen to that..
To turn the USVIs around we should fire all the local and corrupt polliticians, police, etc and hire Bill Clinton to clean the place up and get the economy going.
He is a strong motivator, it would be a welcome challenge for 'ol Bill and he could get unlimited bluwjobs in the Guvernor's office.

Good memory, brain cells left...

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.